How to Grow and Care for Freeman Maple

Acer x freemanii

Purple maples are beautiful, with their brightly coloured leaves and towering progress. Silver maples are interesting as a result of they develop quick and vigorously.

The Freeman or Freeman’s maple, Acer x freemanii, is a hybrid cross between silver and crimson maples that mixes the very best of each, which is why it’s an absolute favourite of arborists and growers alike.

You’ll discover it alongside streets, in city areas, car parking zone islands, and parks far and wide.

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Think about me a member of the Freeman maple fan membership. I’m guessing, because you’re right here, you’re additionally on this unbelievable tree.

If that’s the case, this information goes that can assist you turn into accustomed to the tree and easy methods to take care of it, from planting to averting pests, and extra.

Right here’s what I’ll cowl:

Earlier than we dive into caring for this plant, let’s check out its origin story.

Cultivation and Historical past

The unique Freeman maple was created when Oliver Myles Freeman hybridized a crimson maple, A. rubrum, and a silver maple, A. saccharinum, in 1933.

Freeman was a botanist on the Nationwide Arboretum who bred native timber to create thrilling new crosses.

Not solely did he create the Freeman maple, however he additionally bred a southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) and a sweetbay magnolia (M. virginiana) cross to create the ‘Freeman’ hybrid, which continues to be common in the present day.

Freeman’s maple combines the very best of each mother or father species, with sturdy department attachment and delightful foliage within the fall because of the crimson maple, and the quick, vigorous progress of the silver maple.

Relying on the cultivar, they will develop 4 occasions quicker than the crimson maple.

Silver maples sometimes don’t thrive in city situations as a result of they’re delicate to air pollution, however crimson maples are completely positive, and the Freeman’s kind takes on the crimson maple’s adaptability.

There are literally pure crosses of the silver and crimson maple out within the wild, since Acer timber hybridize simply, however Freeman maples have been fastidiously cultivated to mix all the very best qualities of the 2 species.

The unique Freeman maple grows between 40 to 60 toes tall and about half as large, although lots of the trendy cultivars keep a lot smaller.

They typically have an upright, pyramidal kind, however cultivars can fluctuate, with some having rounder or extra slender kinds. On the middle is a powerful, straight trunk with grey, fissured bark.

The leaves develop reverse one another and every has a distinctly toothed margin and 5 deep lobes.

I like watching them transfer within the breeze as a result of the topsides are medium inexperienced, whereas the undersides have a silvery hue. It provides a kaleidoscope-like impact when the leaves are transferring. Within the fall, the leaves turn into shiny orange or crimson with paler undersides.

Within the spring, crimson clusters of flowers kind on the ends of the branches. These inconspicuous flowers later grow to be seed pods generally known as samaras.

Samaras are the two-winged, helicopter-like pods that twirl to the bottom within the spring and summer time.

The unique Freeman maple was a male, so it didn’t kind samaras, however these timber may also have feminine components even when they’re listed as male.

Freeman Maple Propagation

As hybrids, you possibly can’t begin these timber from seed and count on to develop an actual reproduction of the mother or father plant. That leaves you with a couple of different good choices.

You possibly can propagate through stem cuttings, air layering, grafting, or you should buy a potted specimen to transplant.

Grafting includes taking a department from the tree and attaching it to a rootstock to develop a plant that mixes the traits of each dad and mom.

Air layering requires eradicating the bark to encourage the tree to develop roots, and taking stem cuttings is the method of eradicating a department and planting it in a rising medium.

As soon as it kinds roots within the medium, you possibly can transplant it out into the backyard.

Our information to rising maples explains all the small print about every totally different propagation methodology.

Transplanting

The simplest option to get began is to buy a sapling from a backyard middle or nursery.

To do that, dig a gap about two to a few occasions the width of the container the plant is at the moment rising in.

You don’t have to dig any deeper than the container except you actually wish to. Gently take away the plant by grabbing it on the base, near the soil, and wiggling it out of the pot.

If it actually resists, you would possibly wish to use a knife or scissors to chop the container reasonably than risking harm to the roots. As soon as it’s free, loosen up the roots if they’re tightly certain collectively.

Place the plant within the gap on the similar depth it was within the pot – not deeper – and attempt to information the roots out and away from the trunk.

Backfill the outlet with the eliminated soil. Water nicely and add extra soil if it settles.

Tips on how to Develop Freeman Maples

As is the case with most maples, well-draining soil is important. Your tree is not going to thrive if it’s in waterlogged soil. That stated, it may tolerate heavy clay and really occasional flooding.

Along with being well-draining, ideally the soil must be organically-rich and barely acidic to impartial, with a pH between 5.5 and seven.5.

Any spot with full solar or partial shade will work, although the tree will most likely develop so tall that it’ll finally surpass close by timber.

Plant younger timber in a location that receives a minimum of 4 hours of direct solar per day. Six or extra is right.

As soon as established, Freeman maples are drought tolerant, however they want common moisture for the primary 12 months or two. Add water when the highest inch or two of soil dries out. The soil under ought to really feel like a well-wrung-out sponge.

After that, you possibly can depend on nature to supply the moisture except you could have a protracted, sizzling, dry stretch.

Earlier than you feed your plant, take a look at your soil. These timber don’t want loads of fertilization, so your soil is likely to be completely enough.

You don’t have to prune these timber as they preserve a gorgeous form with out pruning.

Nevertheless, if you happen to see any damaged, diseased, closely pest-infested, or deformed branches, take them out.

You must use the three-cut pruning methodology if you’ll want to take away massive branches.

This includes making a lower on the underside of the limb about 9 inches from the trunk. Make the straight via a couple of third of the department.

This lower prevents harm comparable to bark tearing or ripping because the department falls away from the tree.

Subsequent, a couple of inches nearer to the trunk, noticed via the department from the highest downwards, and also you’ll be left with a stump.

Discover the department collar, which is a swollen space connected to the trunk from which the department emerges.

Trim the stump on the department collar, not reducing via it, however as shut as you possibly can whereas leaving the collar intact.

Smaller branches could be snipped off utilizing pruners.

Study all about pruning maples in our information.

Cultivars to Choose

There are many cultivars of the Freeman maple, every with distinctive traits.

Some develop smaller than the primary hybrid, others have brighter coloration. Here’s a choice of some of my favorites:

Armstrong

If you happen to love the thought of the Freeman’s maple but it surely doesn’t slot in your house, ‘Armstrong’ is likely to be simply what you want.

It’s narrower than the unique, rising to fifteen toes large whereas nonetheless reaching as much as 70 toes tall. The leaves look just like these of the silver maple, with deep inexperienced on prime and silvery undersides.

‘Armstrong’ is right for parking strips and lining streets, the place drivers and pedestrians can benefit from the orange-red foliage within the fall.

Talking of the autumn show, the trade-off with this cultivar is that although you could have a pleasant columnar form, the autumn show isn’t as sensible as a few of the others on this checklist.

Don’t get me fallacious, it’s nonetheless colourful, simply much less so. It’s additionally a feminine, so it produces fruit.

The unique ‘Armstrong’ was discovered rising on a farm in Hartgrove, Ohio, although it wasn’t a named cultivar on the time. Newton G. Armstrong took one have a look at it and paid $5 to make it his.

‘Armstrong’

In 1948, he shared his discovery with Ed Scanlon of Scanlon Nursery and it was launched to market in 1949.

It’s hardy in Zones 4 to 9. You will discover crops obtainable from Nature Hills Nursery.

If you could find ‘Armstrong Gold,’ it’s related in all methods besides that it has shiny golden fall foliage and a extra dense progress behavior.

Autumn Blaze

There are quite a few present cultivars and new ones hitting the market on a regular basis, however the most well-liked must be Autumn Blaze®.

Arbor Day Basis’s City Tree of the Yr in each 2003 and 2004, Autumn Blaze® was bred within the late Sixties by nurseryman Glenn A. Jeffers of Jeffers Nursery in Fostoria, Ohio.

It was launched to the market by Poplar Farms of Batavia, Illinois in 1982.

This favourite is hardy in Zones 3 to eight, and finally grows to 50 toes tall and 40 toes large. The deep inexperienced leaves look just like silver maple, with tremendous shiny crimson fall coloring that lasts for a protracted whereas.

The undersides of the leaves are silvery and the petioles on leaves uncovered to shiny mild might be crimson, whereas these in shadier spots might be inexperienced. The veins is likely to be reddish as nicely.

Autumn Blaze® is a quick grower and may add three to 5 toes every year, with a rounded crown.

Within the late winter, new progress develops with a crimson hue, which provides colour and curiosity to the dreary winter panorama.

It produces samaras and crimson or inexperienced flowers, and whereas timber are male, some nonetheless produce fruit.

Autumn Blaze

It’s proof against verticillium wilt and leafhopper harm, simply one more reason that this cultivar nabbed the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Backyard Benefit in 2012.

You will discover Autumn Blaze® obtainable at Quick Rising Bushes in quite a lot of sizes.

Autumn Fantasy

This 50-foot-tall tree is just like Autumn Blaze® but it surely’s thought of an improved model, with higher branching, brighter, extra constant ruby crimson fall foliage, and adaptableness to a wider vary of environments like sizzling, dry areas and alkaline soil.

It’s even robust sufficient to develop in Zones 3 to 9.

‘Autumn Fantasy’ has a rounded form and grows to about 40 toes large.

The inexperienced leaves have silvery undersides and even the younger leaves turn into brilliantly coloured within the fall, which isn’t one thing all Freeman maples can say.

It’s additionally tremendous fast-growing, including 4 toes or extra every year till maturity.

‘Autumn Fantasy’

You will discover ‘Autumn Fantasy’ obtainable at Nature Hills Nursery.

Celebration

Celebration® is as robust as nails. It’s completely unbothered by the warmth and air pollution of city situations, and is unlikely to interrupt throughout heavy winds and snow.

That’s sufficient to have anybody celebrating.

It has a gorgeous oval kind with inexperienced, closely lobed leaves that flip yellow-orange within the fall. When mature, it grows to about 50 toes tall and as much as 35 toes large.

Celebration

Dropped at market by Lake Nation Nurseries, it grows in Zones 4 to eight.

If you wish to begin a celebration in your backyard you could find crops obtainable at Nature Hills Nursery.

Firefall

Firefall™ was developed by the College of Minnesota to outlive the frigid winters within the space and was launched to market in 2005.

It’s the results of crossing a ‘Beebe’ cutleaf silver maple and an ‘Autumn Spire’ crimson maple. Firefall™is a seedless kind, so there might be no “helicopters” to scrub up within the spring.

Due to the genetics of ‘Beebe,’ it has deeply lobed leaves that flip sensible orange and crimson within the fall, masking the oval-shaped tree in shiny colour in Zones 3b to 7b.

Firefall

When mature, it grows 50 toes tall and as much as 40 toes large.

It’s arduous to discover a higher choice if you happen to’re in search of an accent on your yard and you reside within the colder finish of the Acer vary. You will discover Firefall™ obtainable at Nature Hills Nursery.

Marmo

The Chicago Botanic Backyard, the Morton Arboretum, and the Decorative Growers Affiliation of Northern Illinois joined forces to create the Chicagoland Grows program, and one among their early introductions was the attractive ‘Marmo.’

‘Marmo’ is a superb cultivar if you wish to develop your tree close to a patio or walkway as a result of it doesn’t produce any fruit – which suggests no mess.

It’s additionally columnar in form, rising as much as 70 toes tall however simply 40 toes large. This cultivar is fast-growing and provides greater than two toes per 12 months.

Within the fall, the foliage shifts to a mix of inexperienced, yellow, orange, crimson, and burgundy. Then, within the spring as the brand new leaves emerge, it takes on a pinkish hue earlier than the leaves flip inexperienced.

You possibly can develop ‘Marmo’ in Zones 3 to eight.

Sienna Glenn

Generally the very best issues are joyful accidents, like when this tree was found on an deserted farm in Lake Elmo, Minnesota in 1990.

With its pyramidal kind and shiny crimson fall foliage, ‘Sienna Glenn,’ additionally known as ‘Sienna’ or ‘Sienna Glen,’ is an eye catching choice.

It has a powerful central chief and grows as much as 50 toes tall and 40 toes large on the base. The leaves are smaller than most Freeman sorts, with deep lobes and serrated margins.

‘Sienna Glenn’

In the course of the summer time, the leaves are inexperienced with silver undersides earlier than altering to shiny yellow, orange, crimson, and burgundy within the fall.

It’s additionally largely seedless, so it gained’t make an enormous mess in your panorama.

If you happen to dwell in Zones 4 to six, go to Nature Hills Nursery to choose one up.

Managing Pests and Illness

Freeman maples are typically downside free. So long as you plant them in the proper location and supply acceptable water, more often than not your tree will handle itself with none bother.

Now, right here’s the factor. I hate it when consultants say stuff like that as a result of it makes me really feel like I did one thing fallacious if my supposedly robust tree is sick.

That’s why I wish to add that typically points occur and even the very best cared for tree could be visited by pests or pathogens. That’s simply the luck of the draw.

If you happen to catch an infestation or an infection early on, the probabilities are good the tree can get well. Let’s discuss concerning the pests you would possibly encounter, first.

Bugs

Insect issues are most typical on younger timber which are nonetheless changing into established within the backyard.

An infestation can shortly turn into a major problem on a tiny little plant. The excellent news is that it’s normally manner simpler to kill pests once they’re in a small space reasonably than on a 70-foot-tall tree.

Cottony Maple Scale

Cottony maple scale (Pulvinaria innumerabilis) and cottony maple leaf scale (P. acericola) love maples and boxelder timber (Acer negundo), in addition to white ash (Fraxinus americana), dogwood (Cornus spp.), beech (Fagus spp.), apple (Malus spp.), oak (Quercus spp.), linden (Tilia spp.), elm (Ulmus spp.), and black locust (Robinia spp.).

When you have any of those species in your panorama along with your Freeman’s maple, your probabilities of experiencing an infestation are elevated.

The primary time you encounter these pests, you would possibly mistake them for signs of a illness or some type of funky progress.

That’s as a result of the bugs cluster in massive teams and don’t transfer a lot. They’re lined in a waxy coating that makes them look extra like a cluster of waxy lumps.

Their egg sacs appear to be fuzzy or cottony white growths. They’re round balls that may be half an inch lengthy and large.

Cottony maple leaf scale sacs seem on the underside of leaves whereas the sacs of cottony maple scale seem on stems and branches.

Because the sapsucking bugs feed, they will trigger yellow stippling on the leaves, department dieback, and even tree dying.

You’ll additionally discover sticky honeydew, which is their secretions, all around the leaves and on something under the tree.

The populations are inclined to swell one 12 months and disappear one other, however if you happen to see a lot of egg plenty, assume you’ve acquired a giant infestation and this downside is extra than simply an annoying nuisance and must be addressed.

Keep away from utilizing chemical pesticides, as these additionally kill the bugs that sometimes preserve these pests in verify.

Parasitoid ichneumonid wasps, woman beetles, and lacewings all feed on scale. Insecticidal cleaning soap is efficient towards the crawlers, which is the nymph stage of the pest.

Knock off the egg sacs with a powerful stream of water. Then, spray the tree each few weeks with insecticidal cleaning soap.

Monterey Insecticidal Cleaning soap

Seize some Monterey Insecticidal Cleaning soap at Arbico Organics in a 32-ounce ready-to-spray bottle.

Leafhoppers

The Japanese leafhopper (Japananus hyalinus) hitched a experience on crops from Asia to North America within the late 1800s and has made a meal of crops within the Acer genus from Canada to Mexico ever since.

Whereas it was initially discovered on Japanese maples, it can additionally feed on different species and hybrids, together with Freeman.

The leafhopper has a yellowish-green head, a brown physique, and translucent wings with rust-brown bands.

The females are about three-sixteenth of an inch lengthy and the males are simply barely shorter.

The eggs, that are laid within the bark, hatch within the spring. The nymphs, which undergo 5 molts, start to feed on the leaves as quickly as they hatch.

After the 5 moltings, they emerge as adults and the cycle repeats. Relying on the size of your rising season, there is likely to be two generations every year.

When there’s a massive infestation, you possibly can hear the feeding exercise, it may be that intense.

Thankfully, these pests aren’t proof against pesticides, so any product that accommodates pyrethrins will kill them off.

Spray the tree as soon as each two weeks whereas the pests are current utilizing a product like Monterey Bug Buster-O.

Monterey Bug Buster-O

It’s obtainable at Arbico Organics in eight- or 16-ounce spray bottles.

Mites

There are two sorts of eriophyid gall mites that feed on maples. The primary is the bladdergall mite (Vasates quadripedes) and the spindlegall mite (V. aceriscrumana).

You possibly can’t see the white or clear microscopic mites themselves.

Their feeding outcomes first in depressed dots on the floor of the leaf adopted by pouch-like inexperienced gall formations in the identical space.

The mites dwell in these galls, which step by step flip crimson, and when the pests mature, they lay eggs, go away the gall, and discover a new leaf to infest. Then they conceal out through the winter within the bark. Along with the ugly galls, in addition they trigger leaf distortion.

Populations fluctuate 12 months to 12 months, with a tree being closely infested one 12 months and nary a mite in sight the subsequent.

They’re ugly and arduous to regulate, however they’re actually only a beauty downside.

Predatory mites will assist preserve the pests below management, and if you happen to’re determined to cease the signs, you possibly can spray the trunk and branches with a product that accommodates pyrethrin within the spring as quickly because the climate begins warming above freezing.

Repeat each two weeks for six weeks.

The aim is to kill the adults as they transfer from the bark to the leaves as that is once they’re most weak.

Pruning off leaves as quickly as they begin exhibiting signs may also assist scale back populations. Put the leaves in a sealed bag and get rid of them within the trash.

Illness

Bushes within the Acer genus are inclined to verticillium wilt, so it wouldn’t be honest to say that Freeman maples are immune, however they’re hardly ever affected by this illness.

Nonetheless, be looking out for sudden wilting, even when that the tree has acquired sufficient water. Often, it gained’t be all the tree that may wilt however a couple of branches or perhaps a bit.

Generally the tree will drop leaves or have a normal sickly look.

If you happen to scrape off the bark on the trunk or a symptomatic department or twig, you will note inexperienced streaks. If you happen to see each the inexperienced streaks and wilting, likelihood is extraordinarily excessive that it’s vert.

If that’s the case, take away symptomatic branches and assist the tree with acceptable water and fertilizer.

You don’t have to take away it as a result of the pathogen that causes this illness is already within the soil the place it may dwell and not using a host plant, so it gained’t assist to take it out at this level.

Nevertheless, if the tree is in unhealthy form, it gained’t get well and removing might be greatest.

If you happen to determine to plant one other tree, it can must be one thing resistant like birch (Betula spp.), dogwood (Cornus spp.), ginkgo (G. biloba), crabapple (Malus spp.), crimson oak (Quercus rubrus), or willow (Salix spp.).

Finest Makes use of for Freeman Maples

As a shade tree for a garden, or in Japanese, cottage, or rain gardens, it’s arduous to beat the Freeman maple because of its robust nature and delightful progress.

The extra upright cultivars are excellent as road or car parking zone timber.

They may even work for bonsai, and I like to make use of the branches in lower flower preparations within the fall.

Since these timber can tolerate each drought and sometimes moist soil, they’re a superb alternative for difficult areas the place different species will fail to thrive.

Fast Reference Rising Information

Plant Sort:Deciduous panorama treeFoliage Coloration:Purple, inexperienced, yellow, orange

Native to:Cultivated hybridTolerance:Drought, occasional flooding

Hardiness (USDA Zone):3-9Water Wants:Average

Season:Spring flowers, fall foliageMaintenance:Low

Publicity:Full solar to partial shadeSoil Sort:Organically wealthy

Time to Maturity:10 yearsSoil pH:5.5-7.5

SpacingUp to twenty toes, relying on cultivarSoil Drainage:Properly-draining

Planting Depth:Identical depth as rising container (potted crops), simply above root flare (naked root)Attracts:Pollinators (when blooming)

Peak:70 feetUses:Bonsai, cottage backyard, Japanese backyard, garden, parking strip, rain backyard

Unfold:50 feetFamily:Sapindaceae

Development Charge:FastGenus:Acer

Widespread Pests and Illness:Cottony maple scale, leafhoppers, mites; verticillium wiltSpecies:x freemanii

The Better of Each Worlds

I believe plant breeders are like magicians. They’ve the power to mix the genetics of two timber to create a hybrid with all the very best traits of each.

Freeman maples are a primary instance. Quick-growing, sturdy, and with a lot of daring colour – these timber give you a large number to like.

Are you rising Freeman’s maples? If not, which cultivar will you select? Tell us within the feedback part under!

And for extra details about the fantastic world of rising maples, add these guides to your studying checklist subsequent:

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